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The Elixir of Life
It was a nice change of scenery. Large towers reached towards the heavens to clench the starry sky, lasers illuminated the shadowy faces of the people, and the stars twinkled as they fell. Through the window, in the distance, the water encapsulating the island sparkled. Her hotel room was even more impressive. A nice bar sat off in the main room, accompanied by several plasma televisions that drooped from the ceiling. The bathroom was blessed with an Jacuuzi, and an automatic toilet that seemed to do all the work for you. Her bedroom was even better; it was equipped with a king sized bed, a massage chair, and the finest lotions a person could find. For Natsumi, this place was a step up from her room in the Daimyō's mansion. He was rather old fashion. The world around him was changing, but like all old people he stubbornly resisted. She usually had to travel to the nearest bar to catch a shinobi tournament, and those were often littered with persistent men. Here, she had all she wanted, and more, to herself. She was more than impressed. .....And that was all she remembered. When she finally came to, it was to a man walking towards her bed with a plate of food. What she found more disgusting than his smug grin was the food he was holding: bacon, pancakes, with scrambled eggs. Regardless, she responded with a bright smile. "Oh, thank you, sweetie!" The man's face lit up for a moment. "But, I have an issue." "Oh, well, what is it?" "Er, well, um; I'm kind of a vegetarian. By that, I mean, I don't really eat this sort of meat, especially bacon," Natsumi pulled the blankets with her as she stood up. "But, you know what would be nice. If you could just wait until I get back, then I promise that we can go and grab lunch somewhere. I have an important meeting today, and I shouldn't be late!" Before he could respond, she had already entered the bathroom, and jumped in the shower. When she finally came out, he was resting on the bed, sleeping in his underwear. It took only a glance for her to realize that she might have had too much sake. Natsumi departed swiftly, but quietly. Fortunately, she had managed to book a hotel only a few blocks away from their meeting point; a small restaurant in the middle of the city. Her eyes scanned the rooftops, and it was obvious that his men had been watching her since her arrival. Cameras were everywhere on this island, and behind them were probably his men. In such a place, being discreet was almost impossible; he knew this. That's why he was so comfortable casually meeting in the middle of the city. That, or he had some power that she didn't know about. Either way, Natsumi's freedom was completely stripped. Her arrival to the restaurant was welcomed with even more uneasiness; it had more cameras than the entire city, she was certain. Resting in the middle of every single table was a camera that sprouted from the floor. Even if they weren't for security purposes, evident by the fact that people were smiling and controlling the devices with a button on the table, she couldn't help but feel that they her table would have features that the others didn't. Behind her she heard a ruckus as a very tall man bumped his way into the restaurant. He was dressed head to toe in a shining white suit that matched his hair. He was tinkering with some sort of mechanical object in his hand as he walked by her. After taking a few steps he stopped and turned to look her square in the eyes. "Oh you're Natsumi right." He spoke in a quite bubbly voice as he grabbed her hand and proceeded to lead her through a door into a private room. The room was pretty blank, it had only a table and two chairs. Makaze sat in one and motioned for her to sit in the other. He placed the weird mechanical thing down and proceeded to speak. "So first things first, feel free to speak your mind. This room has no cameras and the walls are soundproofed, this is a private meeting after all. Secondly what was it that you needed?" He asked her as he laid back a bit in his chair, waiting for a response. She took her seat. "Wow, you're big." Those words hung in the air like a shirt on a hanger, then she realized exactly what she had said. "Oh, but I didn't mean it like that!" she immediately exclaimed; her eyes widened, arms flailed, and her head vibrated side to side. "You're just the...yeah, the thing..you know? Yes." Natsumi was renown for her skills, but when it came to public speaking, or any encounter of any kind she had proven to be the most awkward of people. Most times, she just stopped talking, just as she had done, as a way to prevent any further damage. Silence rang throughout the empty room; Makaze was waiting for an answer. "OH! You asked a question!" Natsumi jumped up, remembering his questions. Then, she remembered where she was. "Oh, right. Sorry...." she took her seat. "I'm...um...well, not too good at interactions...as you can see." she apologetically explained. "I mean, being raised in the wilderness by cannibalistic parents tends to...well, er...separate you from the normality's of today's society. I hope you understand." Who was she kidding? Who could possibly understand your own parents trying to eat you? She had travelled the world, and rarely had she encountered anyone who actually experienced anything like what she had. Makaze just laughed a bit at her exclamation and waved his hand dismissively. "No worries, I'm not the best with people either. Though I can't say my family are cannibals but I bet they are weirder than yours. My parents aren't exactly in existence anymore so I kinda have a pseudo family. One of my brothers is a god, the other is a lunatic illusionist. I get where you are coming from though. Anyway back to the main conversation, when your ready just tell me why your here." he replied with a calm smile. "Oh, a god. That's lovely," Natsumi quickly responded. That image sank into her mind: a fifty foot giant, dressed in the finest robes, commanding from the heavens to have bolts of lightning strike her body for wasting his brother's time. She decided it would be best not to waste anymore. "Yes, but, why I'm here. That's easy! If you don't know, I work for the daimyo, and we heard rumors of your village's technological advancements. We scheduled this meeting to offer a trading route between your village, and the Land of Iron. I think it's obvious, but we would like some of your technology," Natsumi paused for a moment, ensuring that she didn't forget anything, and when she determined she didn't, she continued. "The Land of Iron is a....how should I put it? Well, it's really cold. Even in the warmer months, we rarely get any higher than the freezing point. And recently, a new plague began overtaking several of our towns. I mean, we always have diseases since our country never gets warm enough to kill them, but this one is spreading faster than any we've seen before." "Well seems to be a pretty standard problem to solve." He replied casually as he pulled out a bowl of soup and a cup of water from his bag. He then proceeded to concentrate on the water very hard before looking up at her. "Well here is the demonstration, this water is infected with a very powerful disease that will kill you in seven days. Drink the water, break you arm then drink the soup." He spoke again before sitting back in his chair. Natsumi waited, and waited for a laugh, a smile, or something to indicate the joke, but all that arrived was silence. Preceded by a hysterical chuckle, "You want me to do what?" Her tone expressed the obvious confusion she felt. "I-I'm confused. Why did you have that stuff in your bag again?" "Hmm oh well I figured since you were from the land of snow and there is that disease outbreak that you would need some kind of medical aid. So I prepared this demonstration. Just do it, cause if I do it then you really won't be able to see the effects." He sighed before continuing."If it makes you feel any better I'll do it too." He spoke as he proceeded to snap his arm at the joint before pulling out another bowl of soup. "When your ready." As a samurai, Natsumi has seen countless numbers of things. As a Date clansmen, she had seen even worse, but never in her life had she seen someone willingly break their own arm, especially to prove a point. She shot up, "Oh my god! What in the hell is wrong with you!? You can't go breaking your own arm! You could've just said the soup heals people; I would've believed you! I mean, you have floating automobiles here. Why wouldn't I believe you?" Natsumi glanced at his arm and flinched. "I can't believe you just did that. T-that's just gross!" "Hmm oh well I guess I was just thinking most would be untrusting of that. I did this the last time too. Anyway since I guess you get the point I'll just explain it to you." He spoke calmly as he sipped the soup and his arm slipped back into place. "Anyway this soup heals any injury short of death as well as disease. It also tastes terrific. So assuming your country would want this as well as probably some portable heat domes for the towns, what are you prepared to offer me in return?" Natsumi stared at his arm, mesmerized by the power of the soup, and slightly disgusted by the fact that breaking his arm seemed to be something he just did. "Well, we could offer you some wood. We have a lot of trees, and other resources, such as Iron. I can see that you guys would put both things to use relatively," Natsumi shrugged. "I mean, I haven't seen many trees here." "A kind offer but raw materials are useless to us as we can simply create them. However what we would like is an alliance between villages" He spoke once more. "You see there is quite a lot about this city you can't see from just looking around the top. Come with me." He laughed before grabbing her hand and rushing off towards the edge of the island. As they neared a cliff he jumped off and landed on the top of a submarine. "Well come on." He yelled up to her. What Natsumi found most odd about her current predicament wasn't the fact that he had jumped off of the clip and landed on a machinery so rare that it was a myth. Instead, she pondered how in the hell they arrived to the end of an island in the snap of a finger. It only made her question the power of Makaze even more. Without question, she leaped off of the cliff in pursuit of the Kage, landing upon the submarine. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" "No No its something much better." Makaze replied with a smile. As he pulled her into the submarine and began hitting buttons. The large machine soon lurched forward, diving into the abyss for a few minutes all that one could see was complete and utter darkness. Finally a flare of light shot through the windows revealing a beautiful city but into the seafloor. Large glass domes and towers rose from the depths as large mysterious aquatic creatures swam through the sea. "Welcome to the undersea sector of Ryūseigakure." Makaze laughed with pride. Had he not broken his limbs, consumed a magic soup, jumped off a cliff, or showed her a submarine, Natsumi wouldn't have believed the existence of an underwater city. But, at this point in the tour, she almost expected it. "This is nice...." her voice almost trailed off, "But why show me this? What's your purpose, Makaze-sama? I'm assuming, or rather I'm hoping, this isn't some attempt to seduce me." "Oh no no not in the slightest. I actually have a girlfriend." He replied in a cheery tone. "I guess i'm just very excitable about showing people what iv'e created." He laughed as the machine rose back to the surface. He then climbed up the ladder and stood on the roof. There was then a small humming that continued to grow into the roar of jet engines. If Natsumi were to climb onto the roof she would see a gargantuan titan of metal floating before her. "So, then," Natsumi glanced upwards at the rather large spaceship above her. But, she refocused her attention to the Kage. "You just enjoy showing off your city, and that's all? What if I weren't here under friendly terms. What if I was trying to destroy this village? What makes you so trusting, Makaze-sama?" Makaze looked at her directly at her, his face turning serious. "Well you see Natsumi, I try to see the best in people. I assumed you were here and on friendly business and I shall continue to assume that until given a reason to no longer assume it. But trust me when I say if you were here to destroy this village I'd hate to be you. Im obviously not going to divulge the type of security we have here but ill just say that even Madara Uchiha wouldn't make it out alive." He finished his statement and proceeded to sit upon the submarines roof. Just then a man in a very eccentric looking yellow suit appeared before them. He wore a top hat over his mess of yellow hair and an eyepatch covered his left eye. A black bowtie was placed directly below his neck and he wore a large black coat that's inside pattern would remind one of a sky full of stars. This man was floating upside down drinking what looked to be tea however gravity did not seem to effect him as all of the tea and his clothes didn't hang but acted as if his gravity was correct. "Top o' the morning to ya laddies!" He called out to them. Natsumi was distracted from her question by the floating magician. Her face contorted in confusion: "How are you doing that?" He almost looked confused, so she decided to elaborate. "I mean, how are you flying upside down? Is that a ninjutsu you ninja are capable of using, or is it something else?" "Oh I'm from another dimension names Genei M'lady." He then stopped abruptly and spun 180 degrees before planting himself firmly on the ground. His tea vanished and in its place a cane appeared. "You look like a spider to me lassie. Makaze who's the new living bacteria cluster?" Genei asked the man. Makaze sighed before looking to Natsumi. "Sorry about my brother he's well....insane is the best word I suppose, anyway I'll let you introduce yourself." "I look like a spider?" Natsumi's tone was drenched in confusion. "Is that a way of calling me unattractive? I'm a little appalled that you would say such a thing to a guest, especially a samurai ambassador of the Land of Iron." She turned towards Makaze. "You're right, I do think he has a few screws loose. Especially if he doesn't find me attractive. Most men do." "Well you smell of spider and my nose is never wrong." Genei spoke as he did a small twirl. "You arent exactly my type anyway, I prefer clocks to rocks." Makaze just sighed as he began to speak. "So in translation he is saying that he thinks knows there is some type of relation to spiders within you and secondly that he isn't interested men or women." "Smell of a spider?" Natsumi shook her head. "Anyway, what does he want?" Natsumi inquired, directing her question to Makaze. Talking to Genei was like speaking to an ancient Shakespearian actor. He spoke in nothing short of riddles and archaic phrases; she didn't have the time to translate whatever he said. "He's probably here to see who you are. Whenever I have a meeting he pops in and messes with people. He really is quite a weird brother to have." Makaze sighed as he stood from the floor. "So are you a spider?" Natsumi gave Makaze a pointed look. "Do I look like a spider, Makaze-sama? Do you see eight legs? Or do you see webs protruding from my figure? Or, maybe you see fangs erected from the top of my mouth? Tell me, Makaze-sama. What do you see?" "I see a normal woman that looks nothing like a spider, however my brother has never been wrong before so there is probably some hidden aspect of a spider in you." Makaze replied, looking from Genei to Natsumi. "Hidden aspect of a spider?" Natsumi rebuked his words. It had been an identity she tried so hard to prevent, and yet this monster, or whatever he was, came and spilled the beans. She was much more interested in this Genei figure, but for now all she could do is deny. "I don't eat spiders if that's what you mean.." "Your edibility has nothing to do with your credibility." Genei hummed. "The tidings of the spider come from within, It's clear to me, I can see that that's what's within." The maniac rhymed.